U.S. Imperialism in Latin America & The Rise of The Populist Left By: Pedro Soto CSULA, Winter 2011

1. U.S. Imperialism in Latin America & The Rise of The Populist Left By: Pedro Soto CSULA, Winter 2011

2. Topics: Latin America • Brief History of U.S. Imperialism • Recent U.S. Involvement in Coups • The Economic Situation • The Rise of the Populist Left • The Bolivarian Revolution • A World Divided • Moving Forward

3. A HISTORY OF IMPERIALISM • 1898 U.S. declares war on Spain, blaming it for destruction of the Maine. (In 1976, a U.S. Navy commission will conclude that the explosion was an accident.) The war enables the U.S. to occupy Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. • 1903 The Platt Amendment inserted into the Cuban constitution grants the U.S. the right to intervene when it sees fit. • 1903 When negotiations with Colombia break down, the U.S. sends ten warships to back a rebellion in Panama in order to acquire the land for the Panama Canal. • 1905 U.S. Marines help Mexican dictator Porfirio Díaz crush a strike in Sonora. • 1905 U.S. troops land in Honduras for the first of 5 times in next 20 years. • 1909 Liberal President José Santos Zelaya of Nicaragua proposes that American mining and banana companies pay taxes; Forced to resign through U.S. pressure. The new president, Adolfo Díaz, is the former treasurer of an American mining company. • 1912 U.S. Marines intervene in Cuba to put down a rebellion of sugar workers. • 1921 President Coolidge strongly suggests the overthrow of Guatemalan President Carlos Herrera, in the interests of United Fruit. The Guatemalans comply. • 1932 The U.S. rushes warships to El Salvador in response to a communist-led uprising.

4. A HISTORY OF IMPERIALISM • 1933 Roosevelt sends warships to Cuba to intimidate Gerardo Machado Morales, Machado resigns. The first provisional government lasts only 17 days; Roosevelt found it too left-wing and refused to recognize it. A pro-Machado counter-coup is put down by Fulgencio Batista, who with Roosevelt's blessing becomes Cuba's new dictator. • 1934 President Sandino assassinated by agents of Somoza, with U.S. approval. Somoza assumes the presidency of Nicaragua two years later. To block his ascent, Secretary of State Cordell Hull explains, he would be allowed to intervene in the internal affairs of Nicaragua. • 1941 Ricardo Adolfo de la Guardia deposes Panamanian president Arias in a military coup-- first clearing it with the U.S. Ambassador. • 1946 U.S. Army School of the Americas opens in Panama as a hemisphere-wide military academy. Its linchpin is the doctrine of National Security, by which the chief threat to a nation is internal subversion; this will be the guiding principle behind dictatorships in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Central America, and elsewhere. • 1954 Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán, elected president of Guatemala, introduces land reform and seizes some idle lands of United Fruit-- proposing to pay for them the value United Fruit claimed on its tax returns. The CIA organizes a small force to overthrow him. The U.S.'s hand-picked dictator, Carlos Castillo Armas, outlaws political parties, reduces the franchise, and establishes the death penalty for strikers, as well as undoing Arbenz's land reform. Over 100,000 citizens are killed in the next 30 years of military rule. "This is the first instance in history where a Communist government has been replaced by a free one." --Richard Nixon

5. A HISTORY OF IMPERIALISM • 1960 Eisenhower authorizes covert actions to get rid of Castro. Among other things, the CIA tries assassinating him. Other covert actions against Cuba include burning sugar fields, blowing up boats in Cuban harbors, and sabotaging industrial equipment. • 1960s U.S. Green Berets train Guatemalan army in counterinsurgency techniques. Guatemalan efforts against its insurgents include aerial bombing, scorched-earth assaults on towns suspected of aiding the rebels, and death squads, which killed 20,000 people between 1966 and 1976. • 1961 U.S. organizes force of 1400 anti-Castro Cubans, ships it to the Bahía de los Cochinos. Castro's army routs it. • 1961 CIA-backed coup overthrows elected Pres. J. M. Velasco Ibarra of Ecuador, who has been too friendly with Cuba. • 1963 CIA-backed coup overthrows elected social democrat Juan Bosch in the Dominican Republic. 1964 João Goulart of Brazil proposes agrarian reform, nationalization of oil. Ousted by U.S.-supported military coup. • 1970 Salvador Allende Gossens elected in Chile. Suspends foreign loans, nationalizes foreign companies. The CIA provides covert financial support for Allende's opponents, both during and after his election. • 1973 U.S.-supported military coup kills Allende and brings Augusto Pinochet Ugarte to power. Pinochet imprisons well over a hundred thousand Chileans (torture and rape are the usual methods of interrogation), terminates civil liberties, abolishes unions, extends the work week to 48 hours, and reverses Allende's land reforms.

6. A HISTORY OF IMPERIALISM • 1973 Military takes power in Uruguay, supported by U.S. The subsequent repression reportedly features the world's highest percentage of the population imprisoned for political reasons. • 1980 A right-wing junta takes over in El Salvador. U.S. begins massively supporting El Salvador, assisting the military in its fight against FMLN guerrillas. Death squads proliferate; Archbishop Romero is assassinated by right-wing terrorists; 35,000 civilians are killed in 1978-81. The rape and murder of four U.S. churchwomen results in the suspension of U.S. military aid for one month. "The Soviet Union underlies all the unrest that is going on." --Ronald Reagan • 1981 The CIA steps in to organize the contras in Nicaragua, who started the previous year as a group of 60 ex-National Guardsmen; by 1985 there are about 12,000 of them. 46 of the 48 top military leaders are ex-Guardsmen. The U.S. also sets up an economic embargo of Nicaragua and pressures the IMF and the World Bank to limit or halt loans to Nicaragua. • 1982 A coup brings Gen. Efraín Ríos Montt to power in Guatemala, and gives the Reagan administration the opportunity to increase military aid. Ríos Montt's evangelical beliefs do not prevent him from accelerating the counterinsurgency campaign. • 1983 Another coup in Guatemala replaces Ríos Montt. The new President, Oscar Mejía Víctores, was trained by the U.S. and seems to have cleared his coup beforehand with U.S. authorities. • 1989 U.S. invades Panama to dislodge CIA boy gone wrong Manuel Noriega, an event which marks the evolution of the U.S.'s favorite excuse from Communism to drugs. • 1996 The U.S. battles global Communism by extending most-favored-nation trading status for China, and tightening the trade embargo on Castro's Cuba.

7. Recent U.S. Involvement • HONDURAS (2009): Wikileaks Reveals, “Quien Dijo Miedo” • VENEZUELA (2002): Failed First Ever Media Coup “The Revolution Will not be Televised” • BOLIVIA AND ECUADOR: Both Presidents claim U.S. backed coup attempts have been successfully prevented.

8. The Economic Situation • Imperialism Secures U.S. interests • Latin America is Economically dependant • U.S. Backed Dictators promote growth? • Latin American has some of the poorest countries in the world. • 10% of population / 50% of income • 35% of population lives below the poverty line • 13% live in extreme poverty

9. Rise of the Populist Left • Resistance to U.S. Imperialism Fuels the New Leftist Movement Across Latin America • Bolivarian Alliance: Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Cuba, Nicaragua • Left leaning countries: Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay. (Although not as leftist as the Bolivarian Alliance) • Leftist Political Movements and Parties have been revived in every Latin American Country.

10. The Bolivarian Revolution • President is elected by direct universal suffrage and can be unlimitedly reelected. • National Assembly: Unicameral, directly elected, representative population districts (165) with 3 seats reserved for indigenous groups. • 30,000 Community Assemblies govern in a similar fashion on the micro level • Socialist reforms in education, healthcare (Mission Barrio Adentro) agriculture and land.

11. The Bolivarian RevolutionProgress Report 2010: • GNI best in the Region, Rivals the U.S. (40) • HDI one of the highest in the region (0.7) 1998-2008: • Extreme poverty reduced by over 50% • Over 3,600 Community Banks were created • Barrio Adentro, Created almost 6,500 new health clinics • Over 4,000 new education structures, (schools, museums, etc) • University enrollment has increased by 250%, to 2.1Million • 4,000,000 children Receive Free school lunches • Agricultural land use is up about 35%, production up by 50%

12. The Bolivarian Revolution Critizisms against President Hugo Chavez • Freedom of Speech: Globovision, RCTV • The War on Terror: FARC, • The War on Drugs: U.S. Involvement, Colombia • Friends: Iran, Cuba, China, and anyone else who opposes U.S. imperialism • Nationalization

13. A World Divided • Capitalism Vs. Socialism • The Global North Vs. The Global South • The Rich Vs. The Poor • Corporations Vs. The People • Globalization Vs. The Third World

14. Moving Forward